


the world's greatest goalie

by thilesluna



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, everyone loves angus, only tagging the three big ones bc i think they talk the most???, post-canon sort of, set in the epilogue, spoiler alert: i'm everyone, story and song spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 22:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11860623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thilesluna/pseuds/thilesluna
Summary: Angus is a real boy who plays sports and has fun and gets embarrassed by his family at said sports games.





	the world's greatest goalie

Angus never told them—the whole bureau crew—why he'd invited him to the school but they'd all said yes, just the same. The more he thinks about it, the more nervous he is because despite all the practicing and all hours he's put into this, what if he sucks?

 

His coach tells him that he's _good_ , which still surprises him because besides chasing down clues, Angus has never been what you would consider "athletically gifted". He thinks that maybe because he's been thinking one step ahead for so long that it gives him an advantage over his opponent. He's really good at reading what's coming next and his perception is pretty incredible which makes reading the other kids easy.

 

It makes for one hell of a goalie.

 

Before—before the accident that left him alone and before he became the world's greatest detective and joined a secret moon organization, before he was 11-years-old with scraped palms and dirtied clothes at the end of the world, Angus had played soccer. He was 4 years old and it consisted mostly of children running in circles around a ball and laughing, but he remembers having incredible fun and the way his parents had smiled from the sidelines. He'd leave each game exhausted and happy, covered in grass stains and they'd go for ice cream at the shop down the street.

 

Angus adjusts his uniform in the mirror on the back of his door and scrubs at his eyes under his glasses.

 

He takes a deep breath and only jumps a little bit when someone knocks on his door. When he pulls it open, his friend Sara is there, her dragonborn teeth bared in a grin. "You ready for the big day?"

 

"As I'll ever be," Angus replies with a grin of his own. He grabs his cleats from next to the door—Lucas was clear about wearing cleats inside the dorms—and laughs as Sara throws her arm over his shoulder. She's a couple years younger than him but a head taller. She reminds him of Carey a lot, which might be why they were such fast friends.

 

They head for the locker room where the rest of their team and the coach, a goliath named Drald, are waiting. (Angus was terrified of the large, hulking man but Drald turned out to be one of the kindest and most encouraging people Angus had ever met, never raising his voice at the team, only speaking in a firm but gentle voice.)

 

"Okay my friends!" Drald says cheerfully. "It's our first game and we're _ready_! We've been practicing for long enough and we've got a killer offense to get us going and the strongest defense I've seen in all my years of coaching."

 

Sara tilts her head to the side and grins saying, "Isn't this your first year coaching?" Angus stifles a laugh in his hand.

 

"Regardless," Drald says with a wave of his gigantic hand. "You guys are awesome and I can't wait for us to kick this other team's ass—uh, butts. Kick their butts." The team lets out a loud cheer and swarm around their coach who laughs delightedly. "Now lets get out there!"

 

They all rush out into the field. It's much bigger than where they practice but Angus feels more excited than nervous for the first time today as he pulls on his goalie gloves for warm ups. In fact he almost forgets about why he was so nervous in the first place until he hears: "ANGO!?"

 

His head snaps up and he stares across the field at the mass of people standing on the sideline, all staring back at him.

 

It's Magnus who yells, of course. Angus watches the man shift a puppy between each of his hands in an effort to wave in the most enthusiastic and ridiculous way possible. The puppy takes every opportunity to lick Magnus's face so Angus thinks that maybe it doesn't care too much. Next to Magnus is Merle and his kids, all of them beaming and waving at him. Merle shoots him a thumbs-up with his soulwood hand and a little flower blooms from the tip. He plucks it off with a roll of his eyes and tucks it behind Mavis's ear.

 

Lucretia and Davenport look surprised, like despite the fact that the invitation was to a soccer field, they weren't expecting this. Lup elbows Barry hard on the arm, jumping and pointing at Angus. He laughs, rubbing at the sore spot and waving himself. Kravitz and Taako are both holding the corners of a giant banner that wasn’t there a second ago. It reads "World's Greatest Goalie" in big block letters. He watches Killian hoist Carey onto her shoulders as the dragonborn yells his name and Avi cups his hands around his mouth the chant along with her.

 

Angus stares at them all, frozen in place because even though they'd said yes, he didn't expect—he honestly didn't expect all of this. He hasn't seen most of them in a few months and before he even realizes it, he's running across the field. Taako drops his end of the sign as Angus launches himself into his arms, smiling so wide he thinks his face might crack. They all crowd around him, ruffling his hair and patting him on the back. Magnus scoops him up—like he hasn't grown two inches since they all saw him last—and the puppy licks at the boy's face, leaning across Magnus's broad chest to do it. Lup presses a kiss to his forehead when she pulls him from Magnus's arms.

 

Angus is overwhelmed in the best way. He keeps stammering out "Th-Thank you for coming" and "I didn't think—" and "It's so good to see you". He doesn't say he missed them but he squeezes them tight enough that they must know.

 

"Why didn't you tell us, Angus?" Killian asks. She has an arm wrapped over Carey's shoulder and a grin plastered across her face.

 

"Yeah, Dangus!" Magnus says while his puppy chews on his sideburns. "Why all the secrecy?"

 

Angus shrugs and looks down at his cleats. "I wasn't sure if it was something you'd care about? I mean, it's just a dumb game and I didn't want you to feel like you had to come and it's not like I've played that much." He kicks at the ground, making a little divot that he hurriedly pats back into place. "I don't even know if I'm good at it! Coach says I am but I—"

 

"You thought we wouldn't care?" Barry asks, incredulous.

 

"I'm sure you're all really busy—“

 

Taako snorts and Angus finally looks up. They're all looking at him so fondly. "There's literally nothing that would make me too busy for this," Lucretia declares.

 

"Yeah, Ango," Magnus agrees. "If it's important to you it's important to all of us!" He looks around the half-circle that's formed around him and the rest of them are nodding.

 

"I can't wait to see you kick some butt!" Davenport says. "I bet you're a great goalie! You're observant and smart both of which are necessary for that position."

 

Taako rolls his eyes and says, "Plus he's like a magical genius, right pumpkin."

 

Angus laughs. "We don't use magic on the field, sir. It's against the rules!"

 

"Rules are meant to be broken," the wizard says dismissively, wrapping his arm around Kravitz's waist. "Right, darling?"

 

Kravitz flushes and gives Taako a Look. "I think there's a difference between a soccer game and the rules of life and death, which you're so fond of essentially playing Calvinball with," he replies.

 

"Regardless," Taako says, shrugging. "Should I send some spells out onto the field, Angus? Give you a little edge?"

 

Angus gives him a stern look and then turns to the rest of the crew. "Please don't let him use magic during the game." Everyone nods and then laugh at the way Taako pouts.

 

When he finally emerges from the group, Drald is calling his name but there's a knowing smile on his face. "Knock 'em dead, kid," Merle says, patting Angus on the back.

 

"You're gonna do great!" Avi adds, giving Angus a little push back to his team. Halfway across the field, Angus glances back and they're all still standing there and his heart swells until it feels like it's close to bursting.

 

"Who are all those people?" Sara asks, her eyes wide as she watches Taako cast prestidigitation on the banner to make the letters dance around the sign.

 

Angus scoops a ball up off the ground, still grinning like a fool. He heads out to his position for warm ups and says, "That's my family."

 

\--------

 

His team wins the game, Angus only letting one goal in and his family rushing the field at the last whistle. Magnus hands his puppy—named Johan, Angus will learn later—off to Avi and hoists Angus up onto his shoulders, so reminiscent of the last time they were all together.

 

Carey declares the win cause for celebration and that the only right way to celebrate would be to get ice cream.

 

It's much different than it used to be.

 

The shop isn't the same and he feels a pang of something bittersweet that his parents aren't there, but watching the puppy steal licks of Magnus's ice cream and Killian reenact one of the saves from his game while they're all crowded around the biggest table in the place makes Angus feel at home just the same.

**Author's Note:**

> hey can we just thank god and griffin that the boy got a good good ending where he's like super smart and about to become a professor at age 13 but also PLAYS SOCCER AND IS A REAL BOY WITH A REAL CHILDHOOD?????/ thanks
> 
> (find me on tumblr @geargieee)


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